My name is Emilie Kracen and this summer I have had the opportunity to intern at the Litchfield Historical Society under archivist Linda Hocking.  Today being my last day with the Historical Society, I have decided to write a post to tell you a little about what I did here.

My main task has been to process collections and create online finding aids for them on Archon.    The process begins with the raw collections in the state in which they arrived at the archives, in little or no order.  I started by reading through most of the documents and organizing them so they are easy to use.  Creating the finding aid was an interesting task, as I was forced to think like a researcher and create descriptions that would illustrate the important aspects of the collection while helping the reader determine if the documents would be of use in their investigation.  Since Archon is essentially an online, searchable card catalogue, I tried to keep in mind specific search terms that would lead researchers to the correct collections.  The process would have been simple, but for a new version of Archon and various updates which took place during the summer, giving those working with the program a crash course in re-learning how to navigate the site!

The most interesting and rewarding part of the process was handling and reading the actual documents.  I am a historic preservation major, and I plan to attain a museum studies minor and pursue a career in artifact conservation.  Working with the old documents, and even the newer ones, gave me more insight into this aspect of the museum field.  The first collection I worked on was the Grant Papers, dated in the mid-nineteenth century, and the documents were somewhat damaged and very fragile.  I felt privileged to be able to work with the documents first-hand, since after the processing much of the physical collection will be off-limits to researchers due to fragility.  It is exciting to be able to handle objects that people who lived decades or centuries ago used every day!  I also learned some basic and valuable conservation techniques along the way.  For example, I learned that simple objects like newspapers (which are very acidic), paper clips, tape, and staples can, over the years, cause damage to the documents around them.

The content in the collections was very interesting as well.  The letters in the Grant collection, for example, give a very detailed and fascinating account of a traveling teacher/preacher, including a fair amount of culture shock when he moved from the relatively small New England town of Litchfield to pre-Civil War Virginia.  The second collection I worked with, the Captain H. S. Jones Collection, included information on the creation of the historic district in Litchfield.  As a historic preservation major, it was interesting to read through the struggles of launching a historic district in an area where none previously existed.

Finally, I enjoyed researching the creators and creating biographies of them, putting together in one place the various pieces of information, including my own findings from the collections themselves.  My research skills were improved, and even though scrolling through reels of microfilm for an obituary or a marriage announcement was tedious at times, it was exciting when I would stumble upon the very information I was looking for and add it to a more complete account of the lives of these historic figures.

Overall, my work at the Historical Society has been fun and rewarding, giving me an up-close and personal look at the workings of a small museum.

A big part of the mission of the Historical Society is to make the collection accessible to the public.  This is done through exhibitions at the museum’s two sites, the website, educational and public programs, and publications.

The Historical Society is often contacted by academic researchers and historians who are writing books and wish to use some item in our collection as an illustration in their work.   Some of our more popular requests are for the Ralph Earl portraits of Benjamin Tallmadge and Mary Floyd Tallmadge as well as needleworks and embroideries produced by students attending the Litchfield Female Academy.

The writers and publishers they are working with need high quality images to use in the publications.  To serve their needs and also to have quality images of items in our collection for other uses, we work with professional photographer David Stansbury of Stansbury Photography in Springfield, MA.

David generally visits the museum at least once a year for a full day of work.  This is a fairly time consuming process as space has to be set aside in the museum for him to work, objects have to be pulled off display or out of storage and ready for their moment in front of the camera and then everything has to be returned so the visiting public is unaware any changes every took place.

David Stansbury at right in the winter of 2008 as the Historical Society prepared for the publication of the exhibition catalog To Please Any Taste: Litchfield County Furniture & Furniture Makers, 1780-1830

David travels with a van load of equipment and is challenged with creating a mock photography studio in one of the museum’s rooms.  Flood lights, back drops, and tripods are arranged and adjusted as each artifact is placed in front of the camera.

David as he adjusts an image on his computer

His work is impeccable and the images he has created for the museum have been used countless times in all manner of publications.

The photographer sessions are often held in the Liggett Gallery of the Litchfield History Museum.  The large gallery provides ample space for the equipment

David will be visiting the museum again soon after we close for the season at the end of November.  He will be photographing many of the materials related to the Litchfield Female Academy and Litchfield Law School that have not already been captured.  These images will be used in future exhibitions, educational programs and in the upcoming Litchfield Law School and Litchfield Female Academy database which will be released in 2011.